Libertarian Myths - Part 2

In this article, I introduced a new topic called "Libertarian Myths", things that people believe about libertarianism that are not true, This is the second myth I'd like to dispel, and it goes like this:

Libertarians believe that everything is the government's fault.

This one is only a half myth -- Most things are the government's fault. But the basic premise here is "Libertarians don't like government, so they need to blame as many things on government as they can to discredit it." That statement has cause and effect reversed. From a Libertarian's perspective, they have studied history and the issues and seen how government involvement has often done more harm than good, which then leads to the conclusion that most things are the government's fault. Here are a few examples:

- When we were at odds with Russia and Afghanistan was under communism rule, we helped radicalize Muslims to work on our side. When we sided with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, we made enemies of the Muslims. When we placed sanctions on Iraq that ultimately caused the death of a quarter of a million children, we further antagonized them. Our government's continued involvement in their internal affairs caused them to take the drastic measures they did on 9/11.

- In 1913, Congress created the Federal Reserve, which allowed a private entity to legally create our country's currency out of thin air. The value of a dollar today is worth four cents back in 1913. Continued inflation causes people to lose their savings, which causes people to demand that the government do something like Social Security, Medicare, Welfare. The government removed the the ability for people to take care of themselves, and instate of reinstate that ability by abolishing the Federal Reserve, they now bandaid the situation with social programs.

These are just two examples, but it's easy to find dozens of examples of how government has interfered with the free market to properly work, providing the most people possible with the best products and services (houses, food, clothes, medical care, etc) at the best prices.

When someone does their homework and understands history, it's easy to see that government has caused most of society's problems, not fixed them. It's easy to see why Libertarians believe that government has created most problems; and why people are best equipped to fix them.
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